Journalism 478

Public Relations Case Studies

2014-15 Academic Year, Spring Semester

California State University, Long Beach

Journalism Department

Instructor: Jolyn MatsumuroBrookes E-mail:

Office:LA 4 206FPhone: (562) 985-5400

Office Hours: Thursdays from 11:30 p.m. to 12:30 p.m. and by appointment

Prerequisites: Journalism 370 and Journalism 374

Required Text:Swann.Cases in Public Relations Management. 2nd ed. New York and London: Taylor & Francis 2014.

Purpose of the Course:

Journalism 478 / Public Relations Case Studies will provide an in-depth study of the elements of public relations campaigns, their application in different organizations and settings, and the assessment of each. This rigorous course builds upon the knowledge and experience gained in prior courses and applies them in complex situations, incorporating the needs and goals not only of each organization but the shifting attitudes and perceptions of stakeholders and audiences as well as the expected and unexpected obstacles that arise. The course goal is to effectively prepare students for a myriad of applications to build successful public relations programs and solve problems.

Both theoretical and practical topics will be studied, utilizing historical and active case studies that cover a broad spectrum of situations. The textbook will be used as a foundation, with a significant amount of real-time case studies discussed and evaluated, including those which involve issues of social media, diversityand politics. From those, students will identify and propose deliberate strategic planning, further developing their skills in designing and executing highly effective programs. Critical thinking is an essential element of all assignments, as well as research skills and the ability to understand concepts from multiple points of view.

Issues of Diversity: Because public relations practitioners must understand the individual needs and characteristics of all groups they are communicating with, issues concerning the emerging majorities, gender, and other special publics will be discussed in direct relation to course subject matter throughout the semester. Students are also encouraged to raise such issues independently because of the importance they play in the practice of public relations and the globalization of society. Special attention will be paid to the unique communications plans that are developed to meet the needs of diverse populations.

Learning Objectives and Outcomes:Students will develop their critical-thinking skills in program development by analyzing cases and exploring public relations topics in-depth. Identifying and creating solutions is a creative process and will be encouraged. Students will sharpen their research skills by developing a research paper on a particular case, using multiple sources of information. The research paper and all assignments, including the publishing requirement, will be productive exercises in preparing documents and presentations in the formats that are utilized in professional organizations.

Case analyses require environmental scanning, identifying organizational stakeholders, ensuring socially responsible practices, setting appropriate goals and objectives, recommending effective strategies and tactics, and determining methods of evaluation. The development of the case study research paper requires the use of sound methods of secondary and primary research. Students should emerge from the course with improved public relations skills and more poise when performing or discussing under pressure.

At the core of every effective public relations campaign is truth. This theme will run throughout the course, highlighting successful programs that have been built on truth, accuracy, fairness and incorporating diversity (including gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation) and corporate social responsibility. Students will learn how to create campaigns that reflect these tenets as well as develop powerful tactics for ensuring that other departments within the organization understand their need.

Course Requirements:Students will be assessed on the following:

Assignments

Submit assignments at the beginning of the class on the due date. If an assignment is due via email, it must be emailed prior to the start of class. If you submit a print assignment prior to class, you must give it to the personnel in the Journalism Office (SSPA-024). Ask them to stamp and date your assignment and have them place it in my mailbox. You may email assignments earlier than their due date and time.

Proposal for Case Study Paper (10 points)

Students are required to turn in a proposal for their major case study paper for feedback and approval. This should be no longer than two pages, double spaced. It must clearly explain the case study topic and organization, outline plans for research methodology (secondary research is required, primary research is encouraged), give examples of at least five potential sources (with complete citations) and provide a concise argument for why this topic warrants an in-depth analysis. It must also demonstrate critical thinking regarding the subject matter and whether there are implications that have a global impact or affect non-dominant groups. All students are expected to know how to properly cite sources at this course level. However, please make an appointment with me if you need further advising.

The proposal will be graded on the thought process behind the topic selection and whether it meets the elements required of the final paper. This assignment, and all written assignments, will also be graded on the strength of the student’s writing skills, both and in grammar and eloquence.

Case Study Research Paperand Presentation

Theoretical or Practical Case – Your Choice(100 points)

The major assignment for this course will be writing a case study research paper in public relations or solving a case problem in a real-life case.

The paper should be seven to ten pages, with an additional two pages of references. Set the type in a flush left, ragged-right format and use 12-point Times New Roman typeface. Students are to follow style guidelines in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. The paper must research cases pertaining to an organization – public, private, nonprofit – not an individual. You may turn in a printed document, email a word document (must arrive by the start of class) or email a link to a Google Doc (must arrive by the start of class).

Students will explain their case problem and recommendations in a brief presentationto the class (no longer than 5 minutes each). You are encouraged to use multi-media tools for your presentation, including Powerpoint, Keynote, Google Drive,Prezi or Impress. During this presentation, obstacles not covered in the paper will be presented and students will be required to use the knowledge gained throughout the course to offer immediate and effective proposals to overcome these obstacles. Peers will query the presenter as well.

The case study research paper may cover any issue within the public relations field, including the following:

  • Crisis communications
  • Government relations
  • Customer relations
  • Employee relations
  • Investor relations
  • Reputation management (organizational, not individual)
  • Product Launch
  • Corporate social responsibility, rebranding, repositioning or change management
  • Political campaign

The campaign can be a rapid or a slow building endeavor, but must be complex and must include social media elements.

The research paper will be graded on content, employment of sound research methodologies, depth of research, quality of writing, organization, well thought-out and defended strategies and the use of appropriate sources.

Theoretical Case: This paper focuseson a particular problem, such as the Carnival Cruise Line’s Triumph ship breakdown, Verizon releasing customer usage information to the NSA, Penn State and Jerry Sandusky, Arizona tourism boycott in response to the state’s 2010 immigration law, Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the call to boycott the 2013 Winter Olympics in Russia over antigay policies, or the massive toy recall by Mattel in 2007. The problem must be one of scope and impact, having widely affected the organization’s stakeholders.

In the first part of their paper, students address the case theoretically, using the elements in the public relations matrix. Be sure to identify the original source of the incident, for example, the Carnival Cruise Line debacle was brought to and kept in the forefront of international media coverage by the passengers who posted photos and real-time information on social media.

In the second part of their paper, students then make recommendations as if they were the public relations executive for the organization under attack or criticism,implementing the matrix based on their acquired knowledge. Please include a comprehensive analysis that takes into account traditional media relations as well as social media that communicates directly with consumers or constituents.

The topic you select to study should be significant enough to be analyzed

in-depth. Public relations crises are excellent topics. An ideal topic

would involve practices of poor public relations or no public relations

efforts at a so that you have a great opportunity to present creative and

plausible courses of action that may have resulted in greater success.

Q: How do I write my theoretical case study research paper?

A: For the theoretical case, the first part of your paper is the actual case

– in other words, the facts surrounding the crisis. For this part of your

paper, you simply use the public relations strategic-planning process as

your guide – the situation analysis. Basically, you’re analyzing the

situation using the matrix of the strategic-planning process.

  • What happened?
  • What was going on in the industry or field of theorganization? What was happening within the organization itself, its product or service line, its customers or users, its competition?
  • In your analysis, focus on what research the organization conducted.
  • What were the problems and opportunities?
  • What were the key messages?
  • Who were the key publics?
  • What were the organization’s goals and objectives?
  • What strategies and tactics did it use during the crisis or situation you’re analyzing?
  • What evaluation tools were used?

The final section of the theoretical paper is all about you – what you

would have done in your role as the top public relations executive – what

you would have done when the crisis first occurred and how you would

have reacted throughout. To do this, follow the strategic-planning

matrix.

  • What was most important in the situation?
  • What secondary research would you conduct?
  • What primary research?
  • What problems would you focus on solving and what opportunities do you see arising from the problems?
  • What would be your key messages?
  • How would you define your key publics?
  • What would be your goals?
  • Your public relations objectives? How to the connect with marketing objectives?
  • What are your strategies and their rationales?
  • What tactics would you use to implement your strategies?
  • What obstacles might you face in attempting to implement

these and how would you overcome them?

  • How would you evaluate whether you achieved your objectives? How would you evaluate the success of your tactics?

Practical Case: Or students can tackle a real-time problem or challenge facing an organizationand write a plan that solves that problem or challenge. For the practical case, students will select an organization of interest and determine whether there is a public relations issue within that organization that would benefit from a campaign. Examples include how to maintain and win back the level and lucrative advertising demographics of Facebook users, reverse declining tourism in Mexico, successful Apple PR campaigns without Steve Jobs, building a Latino base of voters for the Republican Party, or increasing Major League Soccer or the WNBA’s fan base. Students will then use the public relations matrix in making their recommendations. Please include a comprehensive campaign that takes into account traditional media relations as well as social media that communicates directly with the target audience.

Q: How do I write my practical case study research paper?

A: Use the elements of the public relations matrix as a guide. The

strategies for a case analysis or analyzing any type of public relations

problem involves critical and analytical thinking. Following certain steps

helps guide the public relations practitioner in thoroughly analyzing a

situation. The outcomes of the situation analysis guide the practitioner’s

recommendations in order to produce strategically sound results. The

stepsare as follows:

  1. Situation Analysis: Analyze the situation (also called

environmental scanning). In this step, the practitioner explores theindustry or field, the organization itself, the products or services offered by the organization, the usersof those products or services, and the competition. Practitioners review legal, social, political, and economic trends. They explore every aspectof operation and review the mission and history of the organization, particularly the practices in public relations and marketing communications.

  1. Secondary and Primary Research: To gain a broad

perspective of the situation, practitioners engage in both secondary and primary research. Secondary data collection involves existing materials, such as reports, collateral, and information found on databases. Primary data collection involves conducting original research, such as surveys and focus groups (utilizing survey technology such as Survey Monkey). Consider interviewing industry experts, contacting them via LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Secondary research is conducted first. If more information is needed, primary research is gathered.

  1. Problems and Opportunities: After analyzing the situation,

the practitioner can identify problems that can be solved by public relations. Focus on key problems and make sure they are not symptoms of a bigger problem. Each problem should be able to be turned into an opportunity. In some rarer cases, thepractitioner may need to focus on strengths or new developments instead becausean opportunity may not be visible. Opportunities are not written as objectives. Objectives can be used, but the practitioner will need to elaborate on the proposed outcomes. All problems have been addressed in the situation analysis.

4. Key Messages: A key message is the overall message of

a campaign, program, activity, or tactic that is conveyed to a

particular key public or target audience. Key messages may

vary according to the key public/target audience.

  1. Key Publics/Target Audiences: The practitioner selects the

particularaudiences for the campaign, program, or project. Key publics and target audiences must be specific, not broad.

  1. Goals: These accomplishment statements are broad based and

are usually generated from the organization’s business plan.

  1. Marketing Objectives: These statements usually involve sales

goals, profits, and numbers. They are measurable and specific.

  1. Public Relations Objectives: These statements involve

communication or behavioral goals. They are measurable and specific.

  1. Strategies: These statements are broad based and explain how

the practitioner will accomplish the objectives.

  1. Rationale Following Each Strategy: A rationale is a

justification for that particular strategy. It is a brief persuasive statement explaining the rationale for the use of that strategy.

  1. Tactics: Tactics are tools or techniques used in public

relations. Each tactic or tactics should execute a particular strategy.

  1. Evaluation: A practitioner devises methods to evaluate the

effectiveness of the campaign, program, or project. First, the practitioner evaluates objectives,followed by tactics.

Q: Where can I find information on my case subject?

A: When developing your case study, you will need to track the media

coverage surrounding your subject. Databases, such as Lexis Nexis

Academic (for the consumer and news press),ABI/INFORM Complete (for

the trade press), and media websites will be helpful. In more established

crisis situations, such as the Exxon Valdez and Enron, much has been

written about these cases in textbooks and journal articles. Therefore,

these sources may offer rich perspectives for your paper. You can get

some journalarticles online, journals and textbooks in the library, and

journal articles and textbooks not available in our library through the

interlibrary loan program. You may also find annual reports and other

forms of collateral materials distributed by the organization, its friends,

and its foes very useful when writing your case. Don’t overlook primary

sources, such as interviews with members of the organization, its

friends, and its foes as well as other professionals in the field who may

offer their expert opinion. You may consider contacting them via social

media channels such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. If you are doing

the practical case assignment, the organization you’re studying ideally

should share internal and industry materials with you. Otherwise, you

can find industry materials in the library. Use all of your secondary and primary research gathering skills when developing your case study. Please be sure most of these elements are available to you when writing

the proposal so that you will have enough data to write a thorough

paper.

Three Examinations (100 points each)

Questions will be based on key concepts presented during the course and will measure analytical and critical-thinking skills. Questions will be taken from lecture and text materials and will include true-false, multiple choice, and essay questions. Students may need a bluebook for each exam and will be notified prior to each.

Brief Case Study Identification and Assesment(10 points)

A brief assignment(10 points) will assess case preparedness and demonstrate students’ knowledge of course concepts. Thiswill involve bringing (or emailing me a link by the start of class) a current sample of case studies to class for discussion, answering questions or creating a matrix for the case study assignments. You may be selected to present your assignment to the class.